If there's anything to be learned on the other side (the F-ee, as it were), it's the truth of the saying "People don't leave companies, they leave managers."

I had a totally non-epic FU money story recently. I'm currently doing a job that I don't care for after having been pushed into the position when they couldn't fill it externally. I was told "You can apply for this job, or you can do it in addition to your old job. If you apply you'll get a raise." I wasn't in a position financially to push back, so I took it, even though I really wanted to tell them no.

It had the potential to be interesting, but after a year I've found it not suited to my interests at all. So about a month ago, I had my annual performance review where we discuss goals. I decided to take a chance and said "I want to move into a different field, I find this one boring." I figured I'd get a bit of resistance, and I did, but eventually I managed to get them to agree to let me start training in the new field. I made it clear that I didn't really want to leave the organization, but would if I kept being pigeonholed in the area I don't like.

I have already had some discussions with the managers in the new area and they're looking for someone, so there's a good chance that I'll be moving to that area in the next few months.

A couple of years ago, I would have just kept my head down, and done the thing I hate in order to preserve my job and the fully over-allocated paycheque that it provides. Now, I'm comfortable enough with the stash to take a few risks.

So it's nothing like some of these amazing stories, but I'm pretty happy about it.

If there's anything to be learned on the other side (the F-ee, as it were), it's the truth of the saying "People don't leave companies, they leave managers."

I had a totally non-epic FU money story recently. I'm currently doing a job that I don't care for after having been pushed into the position when they couldn't fill it externally. I was told "You can apply for this job, or you can do it in addition to your old job. If you apply you'll get a raise." I wasn't in a position financially to push back, so I took it, even though I really wanted to tell them no.

It had the potential to be interesting, but after a year I've found it not suited to my interests at all. So about a month ago, I had my annual performance review where we discuss goals. I decided to take a chance and said "I want to move into a different field, I find this one boring." I figured I'd get a bit of resistance, and I did, but eventually I managed to get them to agree to let me start training in the new field. I made it clear that I didn't really want to leave the organization, but would if I kept being pigeonholed in the area I don't like.

I have already had some discussions with the managers in the new area and they're looking for someone, so there's a good chance that I'll be moving to that area in the next few months.

A couple of years ago, I would have just kept my head down, and done the thing I hate in order to preserve my job and the fully over-allocated paycheque that it provides. Now, I'm comfortable enough with the stash to take a few risks.

So it's nothing like some of these amazing stories, but I'm pretty happy about it.

Perfect example of the subtle use of FU money: my husband is on the phone with his boss as I type. Apparently they want to change his job description to require availability outside of business hours (basically be available from 6am to 11pm, every day)

We have a family, and kids, and he's a good dad who values actually being present for his kids for dinner and evenings and the like, and we just built a house so our 'stash isn't as good as it could be but, y'know what? It ain't bad. Worst-case scenario? My salary (at 4 days/week), plus unemployment for him, STILL gives us enough to maintain our current quality of life and add to our 'stash. (If we were on my salary alone, we'd need an extra 600$/month to make ends meet... which, let's face it, basic consulting work from either of us would cover, or an under-the-table farm job, which is something he enjoys...)

Basically: we don't need the money badly enough to sacrifice family time and time with our kid. So: it's not happening.

The advantage of FU money isn't in saying FU, it's in being able to walk into that meeting and suggest alternative options, instead of feeling like you need to keep your head down and swallow sh*t to keep the job you feel like you desperately need...

Perfect example of the subtle use of FU money: my husband is on the phone with his boss as I type. Apparently they want to change his job description to require availability outside of business hours (basically be available from 6am to 11pm, every day)

We have a family, and kids, and he's a good dad who values actually being present for his kids for dinner and evenings and the like, and we just built a house so our 'stash isn't as good as it could be but, y'know what? It ain't bad. Worst-case scenario? My salary (at 4 days/week), plus unemployment for him, STILL gives us enough to maintain our current quality of life and add to our 'stash. (If we were on my salary alone, we'd need an extra 600$/month to make ends meet... which, let's face it, basic consulting work from either of us would cover, or an under-the-table farm job, which is something he enjoys...)

Basically: we don't need the money badly enough to sacrifice family time and time with our kid. So: it's not happening.

The advantage of FU money isn't in saying FU, it's in being able to walk into that meeting and suggest alternative options, instead of feeling like you need to keep your head down and swallow sh*t to keep the job you feel like you desperately need...

Nice going. And agree with what FU Money means. Goes right along with the saying "life is like a shit sandwich. The more bread you have, the less shit you have to eat."

It's surprising to me how many workers give even unreasonable/unpleasant employers the courtesy of 2 weeks or more notice that they're quitting. I realize this is a custom in our society, but it seems kind of one sided to me. Obviously, if you have a good relationship with your manager(s) and your coworkers, giving them notice that you're planning to leave is the polite thing to do. For people who work at companies that suck and have managers that are real dickheads, why give them any notice at all that you're going to quit? Self interest is one reason, obviously. Employees want to get a good recommendation when they apply for future jobs. But when a company fires a worker they rarely give the worker any notice. Most often I've heard of workers being totally blindsided and surprised by someone from HR who takes away the worker's keys and has a security guard escort the worker off of the property. There's no time for the employee to plan ahead, look for another job, save up money, etc.

My question is, why don't companies have to worry about getting a good recommendation from their former employees just as much as employees worry about what their former employers will say about them? Maybe it exists already, but if not, maybe we need an online forum where former employees can post evaluations of companies they have worked for. If many former workers gave a company/manager a bad recommendation, people would stop applying for jobs at that company, the company would be forced to raise wages and/or improve working conditions, or else nobody would apply to work for them anymore...

Maybe it exists already, but if not, maybe we need an online forum where former employees can post evaluations of companies they have worked for. If many former workers gave a company/manager a bad recommendation, people would stop applying for jobs at that company, the company would be forced to raise wages and/or improve working conditions, or else nobody would apply to work for them anymore...

There is Glassdoor.com, but I think you have to make an account to see everything.

My question is, why don't companies have to worry about getting a good recommendation from their former employees just as much as employees worry about what their former employers will say about them? Maybe it exists already, but if not, maybe we need an online forum where former employees can post evaluations of companies they have worked for. If many former workers gave a company/manager a bad recommendation, people would stop applying for jobs at that company, the company would be forced to raise wages and/or improve working conditions, or else nobody would apply to work for them anymore...

I think it's a mix of people just need jobs and will take anything or they feel like they are the special snowflake that will make everything perfect. The people who are realistic just know that they will need a higher $$$ to deal with the extra BS that such a job will bring.

The other issue is even places like glassdoor, not everyone uses and it becomes a lot of the "you only post when you want to bitch" that a lot of yelp is covered with. People with normal experiences don't really post anything. So it's hard to tell if something is good or bad since you have so few reviews to weigh something against.

Regarding giving notice, I feel fortunate to work (for the second time now) for a company that provides two months' notice, after a year of working. The flip side of that coin is that I also have to give them two months' notice. Potential employers are not too happy about it. I explain that when a company offers to provide two months' notice, I happily agree...

In my country, BTW, the law states that the notice after one year in a salaried position is one month, both ways. I've been told that the two month's notice in my employment agreement is not actually enforceable.

Also, even before I found MMM and started building up my stash, I would try to explain to coworkers and friends that my feelings about a manager or employer are just as important as their feelings about me. We are all valuable commodities, and I try not to work for any manager or at any company that does not appreciate that value. That's why I'm looking around right now; and why I did not recommend anyone send in their resume for a position on my team at a former company.

My question is, why don't companies have to worry about getting a good recommendation from their former employees just as much as employees worry about what their former employers will say about them? Maybe it exists already, but if not, maybe we need an online forum where former employees can post evaluations of companies they have worked for. If many former workers gave a company/manager a bad recommendation, people would stop applying for jobs at that company, the company would be forced to raise wages and/or improve working conditions, or else nobody would apply to work for them anymore...

Actually, when people are escorted away from the workplace after giving notice, it's usually because of morale, safety, securing company assets, ensuring the employee doesn't take proprietary info or customer lists, or just generally keeping someone who is going off to greener pastures from telling the other employees how great life on the outside will be. But that doesn't mean the employee who was walked out didn't get two weeks of pay. . They almost always do and in every company I've ever worked in, we just say, thanks for the notice, you'll stay on the books for the remainder of your time, but don't bother coming into the office. It's just not productive to have that situation in the office in some cases.

My question is, why don't companies have to worry about getting a good recommendation from their former employees just as much as employees worry about what their former employers will say about them? Maybe it exists already, but if not, maybe we need an online forum where former employees can post evaluations of companies they have worked for. If many former workers gave a company/manager a bad recommendation, people would stop applying for jobs at that company, the company would be forced to raise wages and/or improve working conditions, or else nobody would apply to work for them anymore...

Actually, when people are escorted away from the workplace after giving notice, it's usually because of morale, safety, securing company assets, ensuring the employee doesn't take proprietary info or customer lists, or just generally keeping someone who is going off to greener pastures from telling the other employees how great life on the outside will be. But that doesn't mean the employee who was walked out didn't get two weeks of pay. . They almost always do and in every company I've ever worked in, we just say, thanks for the notice, you'll stay on the books for the remainder of your time, but don't bother coming into the office. It's just not productive to have that situation in the office in some cases.

It's strictly security and wanting to control what it is you remove from your desk. I actually had someone go through a datebook/planner and rip out 3 or 4 pages that he felt contained "too much information". Yeah, I'll really be able to sell the fact that there was a meeting on a project 4 months ago to the Chinese, that is the sort of info they want.

As for pay - if you give notice and then get walked - you get paid. But if they let you go/fire you, you rarely get 2 weeks paid (outside of cashing your vacation). At least in my experiences.

Only one time have I left a company and been walked out that day, and that was at a company that did payroll processing, so not really surprising. It was not even hostile or anything, just a "oh, you are leaving, OK, go say goodbye to everyone and we will walk you out". I still got paid for the two weeks. It actually raised my respect for the company the way I was treated to a two week paid vacation.

No necessarily a FU story but...DH and I have been scraping by for a while. We finally have enough saved for me to quit my job and go back to school full time. I give notice in 276 days and counting. I fantasize about that conversation when the work day gets stressful.

I think I have the opposite of one-more-year (perhaps this should be in the MM people problems)

Love the job, love the technical challenges but in a meeting today discussing the next 3-5 years of growth projections and the $Bn valuation they are busy dreaming about all I can think of is; I don't care - I can leave today and live like a grad student, I can do 2more years and live comfortably for ever. I could probably leave sooner if I could persuade my wife that we can live off savings.

I think I have the opposite of one-more-year (perhaps this should be in the MM people problems)

Love the job, love the technical challenges but in a meeting today discussing the next 3-5 years of growth projections and the $Bn valuation they are busy dreaming about all I can think of is; I don't care - I can leave today and live like a grad student, I can do 2more years and live comfortably for ever. I could probably leave sooner if I could persuade my wife that we can live off savings.

I feel like as soon as you start feeling either "one more year" or what you are describing, you need to put in a hard line on 3 dates:Date 1: The date that you can live in an efficiency apartment foreverDate 2: The date that you can keep up your current lifestyle without any changesDate 3: The date that you can improve your current lifestyle.

Aim to retire at Date 2. If you miss it, when you hit date 3, you're out no matter what.

I think I have the opposite of one-more-year (perhaps this should be in the MM people problems)

Love the job, love the technical challenges but in a meeting today discussing the next 3-5 years of growth projections and the $Bn valuation they are busy dreaming about all I can think of is; I don't care - I can leave today and live like a grad student, I can do 2more years and live comfortably for ever. I could probably leave sooner if I could persuade my wife that we can live off savings.

I feel like as soon as you start feeling either "one more year" or what you are describing, you need to put in a hard line on 3 dates:Date 1: The date that you can live in an efficiency apartment foreverDate 2: The date that you can keep up your current lifestyle without any changesDate 3: The date that you can improve your current lifestyle.

Aim to retire at Date 2. If you miss it, when you hit date 3, you're out no matter what.

mtn, the trap with this is that #3 is open ended. How much "improvement" is enough? An extra $10/month, an extra $1,000, more?

And I'm not sure exactly how, but Glassdoor can be manipulated by the company as well. My former (toxic) workplace has pretty high ratings due to a high percentage of what, to someone who has worked there, are obviously fake positive reviews. Especially telling is the fact that a genuine, bad review gets posted, and then shortly thereafter a whole bunch of glowing reviews magically get posted within about a week. I have not bothered to review the company for this reason. They are I'm sure trying to protect their image as they are always hiring a ton (with growth plus massive turnover, they have to be!) and also have been getting their story out in the press a lot, wouldn't do to have it so easy to search for reviews that say how awful it is to work there.

I think I have the opposite of one-more-year (perhaps this should be in the MM people problems)

Love the job, love the technical challenges but in a meeting today discussing the next 3-5 years of growth projections and the $Bn valuation they are busy dreaming about all I can think of is; I don't care - I can leave today and live like a grad student, I can do 2more years and live comfortably for ever. I could probably leave sooner if I could persuade my wife that we can live off savings.

I feel like as soon as you start feeling either "one more year" or what you are describing, you need to put in a hard line on 3 dates:Date 1: The date that you can live in an efficiency apartment foreverDate 2: The date that you can keep up your current lifestyle without any changesDate 3: The date that you can improve your current lifestyle.

Aim to retire at Date 2. If you miss it, when you hit date 3, you're out no matter what.

mtn, the trap with this is that #3 is open ended. How much "improvement" is enough? An extra $10/month, an extra $1,000, more?

Open ended, yeah, but probably easily determined for most people.

For me, it is the amount to own/buy a small house or apartment in Chicagoland and a vacation house in the UP, 4 trips every year, a fun car, a fishing boat, speed boat, and maybe 20 rounds of golf a year. How much is necessary for that? Depending on the housing situation with the rent/owning/buying, probably about $100-$150k a year.

I think I have the opposite of one-more-year (perhaps this should be in the MM people problems)

Love the job, love the technical challenges but in a meeting today discussing the next 3-5 years of growth projections and the $Bn valuation they are busy dreaming about all I can think of is; I don't care - I can leave today and live like a grad student, I can do 2more years and live comfortably for ever. I could probably leave sooner if I could persuade my wife that we can live off savings.

nbs - I'm in the same boat. Got new people with some really great energy and ideas, but hey, guess what - I'm gone come 4/16/16. No one knows this yet though so it can feel odd when they talk about giving me a promotion and what my role will be.

I think I have the opposite of one-more-year (perhaps this should be in the MM people problems)

Love the job, love the technical challenges but in a meeting today discussing the next 3-5 years of growth projections and the $Bn valuation they are busy dreaming about all I can think of is; I don't care - I can leave today and live like a grad student, I can do 2more years and live comfortably for ever. I could probably leave sooner if I could persuade my wife that we can live off savings.

I feel like as soon as you start feeling either "one more year" or what you are describing, you need to put in a hard line on 3 dates:Date 1: The date that you can live in an efficiency apartment foreverDate 2: The date that you can keep up your current lifestyle without any changesDate 3: The date that you can improve your current lifestyle.

Aim to retire at Date 2. If you miss it, when you hit date 3, you're out no matter what.

mtn, the trap with this is that #3 is open ended. How much "improvement" is enough? An extra $10/month, an extra $1,000, more?

Open ended, yeah, but probably easily determined for most people.

For me, it is the amount to own/buy a small house or apartment in Chicagoland and a vacation house in the UP, 4 trips every year, a fun car, a fishing boat, speed boat, and maybe 20 rounds of golf a year. How much is necessary for that? Depending on the housing situation with the rent/owning/buying, probably about $100-$150k a year.

However, going to the UP you need to figure a line item for lotsa beeyer, ya no.

I love love love this thread, I must've missed it when it was first here, and have been reading it slowly all the way through since its "revival."

My big take-away from this, is that I don't have any interesting FU money stories, precisely because I have pretty much always had FU money and/or an FU resume. The fact that I'm just generally a malcontent, and the fact that I have FU money and the skills to easily get a new job means that I don't put up with anything 1/100th as bad as some of the stories on here.

I've changed jobs 4 times, always because my manager has done something mildly annoying to me. I just thought to myself, "I'll bet I can find something better than this" and gone back to my desk and updated my resume. My only issue in life is that my current gig is so sweet that I know I won't find a job this good again. So I put up with the mild annoyance of an over-eager, %$%@ of a manager. Pretty much the opposite of an FU money story, but in a good way

I've never had FU money in my life, because I'm a dumbass. I've only ever managed to accumulate anything by pushing money to places where I can't touch it, as much as possible. Even after a year and a half reading here, and saving tons, my savings "strategy" pretty much amounts to keeping myself cash-poor so I don't have to really become a badass about spending.I gather that for many people, paying off all consumer debt and building up a cash cushion is an early baby step on the road to FIRE. For me, investment had to come first and those two things will come last.

Wow. That site offers so many awful employee-oppression / stupid rule stories. OMG, employees have take so much shit, and have to bear it with a fake smile whilst withering inside. I'm not sorry to be through with that BS! Ugh!

I've never had FU money in my life, because I'm a dumbass. I've only ever managed to accumulate anything by pushing money to places where I can't touch it, as much as possible. Even after a year and a half reading here, and saving tons, my savings "strategy" pretty much amounts to keeping myself cash-poor so I don't have to really become a badass about spending.I gather that for many people, paying off all consumer debt and building up a cash cushion is an early baby step on the road to FIRE. For me, investment had to come first and those two things will come last.

I haven't had to say FU either and I am right there with you. Having cash to me means I did something wrong. Gotta shove money in all the tax advantage holes.

my FU story: stupidly, I invested well in index funds, not so well in husbands. When I went part time for child rearing, he decided we will put our 403B money in his acct and try to live off my tiny salary (yes, I know, you don't have to say it, I was 26 and had milk brain). Fast forward, very bad man, I left. His lawyer fought mine so hard on that 403B money, mine saying I should get what I would've had had I not been part-time. They argued his account, his money. My lawyer said expect to get maybe 20k if lucky. The judge reads it, interprets it his own way from our divorce decree and I got 86k. I looked at my lawyer, she was shocked.

His attorney demanded to see the math, the divorce decree was correct, this was my right and he had agreed to it and must follow it. It was all money I had earned that he transferred to his account or money I would've contributed when working full time plus interest. Ex stood up slammed his chair and stomped out of the courtroom, only to be led back in by the bailiff, judge said, "you get up, when I tell you to get up. Any more nonsense and you will be cited for contempt of court and spend a night in jail." Then he was reading my attorney's response to the petition again, in which she told of several times over the course of our marriage, my ex forged my signature on 403b docs during market turn downs, when he would move everything to cash. I happened to find out accidentally. The judge said, "you forged your wife's signature to gain control of her 403b without telling her? How many times? 1? 3? 10? Guess how many are legal-ZERO! This is disgusting! I am standing up now, you may as well, I am leaving and then you may leave. We clear here?"

money is the only way to hurt my ex, even when it's me taking back my money. He had been humiliated in court. He got caught doing illegal things, he never thought he would lose, for the first and last time, I finally for once "got him". Best FU money story in my book.

Wow. That site offers so many awful employee-oppression / stupid rule stories. OMG, employees have take so much shit, and have to bear it with a fake smile whilst withering inside. I'm not sorry to be through with that BS! Ugh!

Probably not the intended result, but after reading a few dozen of those, I'm just amazed by how lucky I am to have the job I do, and wonder why I would ever want to leave. Hahaha

my FU story: stupidly, I invested well in index funds, not so well in husbands. When I went part time for child rearing, he decided we will put our 403B money in his acct and try to live off my tiny salary (yes, I know, you don't have to say it, I was 26 and had milk brain). Fast forward, very bad man, I left. His lawyer fought mine so hard on that 403B money, mine saying I should get what I would've had had I not been part-time. They argued his account, his money. My lawyer said expect to get maybe 20k if lucky. The judge reads it, interprets it his own way from our divorce decree and I got 86k. I looked at my lawyer, she was shocked.

His attorney demanded to see the math, the divorce decree was correct, this was my right and he had agreed to it and must follow it. It was all money I had earned that he transferred to his account or money I would've contributed when working full time plus interest. Ex stood up slammed his chair and stomped out of the courtroom, only to be led back in by the bailiff, judge said, "you get up, when I tell you to get up. Any more nonsense and you will be cited for contempt of court and spend a night in jail." Then he was reading my attorney's response to the petition again, in which she told of several times over the course of our marriage, my ex forged my signature on 403b docs during market turn downs, when he would move everything to cash. I happened to find out accidentally. The judge said, "you forged your wife's signature to gain control of her 403b without telling her? How many times? 1? 3? 10? Guess how many are legal-ZERO! This is disgusting! I am standing up now, you may as well, I am leaving and then you may leave. We clear here?"

money is the only way to hurt my ex, even when it's me taking back my money. He had been humiliated in court. He got caught doing illegal things, he never thought he would lose, for the first and last time, I finally for once "got him". Best FU money story in my book.

A few years ago the company I was working for was under some seriously hard times financially. There was a layoff coming, a fairly significant portion of the company. I was safe for various reasons (technical lead, seniority, expertise, that kind of stuff), but we had a new hire on the team who had relocated from across the country who was going to be let go. I spoke to my manager and volunteered to be laid off instead. He's still working there, last I heard.

As a bonus, a few months later, I ended up landing a dream job at 3x my old salary.

A few years ago the company I was working for was under some seriously hard times financially. There was a layoff coming, a fairly significant portion of the company. I was safe for various reasons (technical lead, seniority, expertise, that kind of stuff), but we had a new hire on the team who had relocated from across the country who was going to be let go. I spoke to my manager and volunteered to be laid off instead. He's still working there, last I heard.

As a bonus, a few months later, I ended up landing a dream job at 3x my old salary.

Nice to see others thinking along the same lines, and actually doing it. Two layoffs ago, I was contemplating volunteering to go, but was pointedly told by someone in-the-know that volunteering wasn't possible.

Got blindsided by the last layoffs, where I definitely would have volunteered. The first I knew about it was one of my colleagues say "did [Markbike528CBX's mentoree] just get layed-off?".

Now having survivor guilt. Accelerated the job/retirement hunt. Not sure I could get 3x salary though.

A few years ago the company I was working for was under some seriously hard times financially. There was a layoff coming, a fairly significant portion of the company. I was safe for various reasons (technical lead, seniority, expertise, that kind of stuff), but we had a new hire on the team who had relocated from across the country who was going to be let go. I spoke to my manager and volunteered to be laid off instead. He's still working there, last I heard.

As a bonus, a few months later, I ended up landing a dream job at 3x my old salary.

Using FU money to do something good for someone else instead of saying FU... Wow. Respect.

A few years ago the company I was working for was under some seriously hard times financially. There was a layoff coming, a fairly significant portion of the company. I was safe for various reasons (technical lead, seniority, expertise, that kind of stuff), but we had a new hire on the team who had relocated from across the country who was going to be let go. I spoke to my manager and volunteered to be laid off instead. He's still working there, last I heard.

As a bonus, a few months later, I ended up landing a dream job at 3x my old salary.

A few years ago the company I was working for was under some seriously hard times financially. There was a layoff coming, a fairly significant portion of the company. I was safe for various reasons (technical lead, seniority, expertise, that kind of stuff), but we had a new hire on the team who had relocated from across the country who was going to be let go. I spoke to my manager and volunteered to be laid off instead. He's still working there, last I heard.

As a bonus, a few months later, I ended up landing a dream job at 3x my old salary.

This is a perfect example of how important it can be to know the right time and way to LEAVE a job. This is a tiny tale with giant impact!

Wow. That site offers so many awful employee-oppression / stupid rule stories. OMG, employees have take so much shit, and have to bear it with a fake smile whilst withering inside. I'm not sorry to be through with that BS! Ugh!

Probably not the intended result, but after reading a few dozen of those, I'm just amazed by how lucky I am to have the job I do, and wonder why I would ever want to leave. Hahaha

Well, I have had the best job in the world for the past 10 years, but the writing is on the wall. The parent company is selling off my division to a competitor, and management has already started acting like this is a season of Survivor. Everyone is just waiting to see who gets voted off the island this week. I'm not management, per se, so I think it will be a while before the new bosses get to cutting in my section; but I still want to be ready in case I need to pull a golden parachute of my own making. Lord knows they aren't going to offer one.

Well, I have had the best job in the world for the past 10 years, but the writing is on the wall. The parent company is selling off my division to a competitor, and management has already started acting like this is a season of Survivor. Everyone is just waiting to see who gets voted off the island this week. I'm not management, per se, so I think it will be a while before the new bosses get to cutting in my section; but I still want to be ready in case I need to pull a golden parachute of my own making. Lord knows they aren't going to offer one.

Ooh. Keep your eyes open and be ready for anything!I'm a fed, and even better, I'm not paid for by tax dollars, so I'd have to fuck up pretty hard to lose my job. But I'm stagnant here, uninterested in advancing, and my latest run of luck with leadership changes is bound to fail eventually. The next time the neverending game of Musical Officers drops a psycho micromanager on us, I need to have my shit in order.And that's all before I even think about personal goals and dreams, which lie well outside the mission of the current organization, though I generally like my coworkers and the environment. Stupid idealism and shit.

I had been working for 5.5 years at a giant multinational telecommunication company, in the last 2 years as a senior accountant. The salary was a joke. New junior accountants started to get higher salaries than the seniors, because the annual raise was so low. My teammates were awesome, the managers... not so awesome. The workload was huge, and it was bigger and bigger each year, each month. They were always happy with my work, but I got a new manager right after I became a senior accountant, and things got different.

I got many new tasks, including SAP testing (at night on weekends), coordinating others' work, etc. One of my idea saved countless of hours of work and saved us from making big mistakes, so it was a big contribution. I had voluntary overtimes, and I reached all my targets that were set at the beginning of the year. Then we got our usual annual review, and I got a very bad grade. I told my boss that I had reached all my targets. She replied that my targets had been defined by my previous manager, so she didn't know what my targets were. She added that the problem was my attitude. I mentioned her the (mostly voluntary) overtimes, the night shifts, the double (triple) workload that should be handled by two or three people, but she wasn't interested. She told me I should have obeyed her all the time (there was one time when I told that her idea is not viable - okay, the team was present, I made a mistake, it wasn't professional), and that (as a senior) I was responsible for a giant mistake of one of my co-workers. She added that I didn't hold any trainings (it was not my job, and I had sent many information emails instead), I wasn't proactive enough, and the best one: I should have been a role model (which was apparently the most important task of a senior accountant). I replied with a question: Shouldn't be the managers the role models? She remained silent for a few seconds (LOL), and told me that "yes, they should be". Anyway, I was so angry that I almost punched her in the face. I would never EVER hit a woman (I wouldn't hit anyone), but I was so close this time (I was literally blinded by anger, and totally lost control for a sec - it was quite frightening). Anyway, I remained silent, and supernaturally calm. My manager told me that this bad grade wouldn't affect me in any way, but she lied. I had to make humiliating home works and I didn't get a raise that year.

I told myself: why would I work so much if there's no benefit? So I decreased my 8 hour workday to 4-5. I heavily concentrated solely on my targets, and didn't give a crap about anything else. I was always smiling and showed a positive, proactive, friendly attitude (while I was thinking FU all). The outcome: I got a reward of excellence, and next year suddenly my work was "exceptional". My boss almost fell in love with me, and I slowly became indispensable.

Then I sent my CV to an ever bigger company, and they hired me instantly (+40% raise, the workplace was 10 minutes away (instead of 35 minutes)). Of course I quit. My boss was astonished and became a nervous wreck. When I told her I quit, she immediately started calling the big bosses to find a way to make me stay. I told her: "I would stay if you offered a 15% raise" She told me it's impossible. Then I signed the paper and gave it to her. I gave 1 month notice (it's the minimum in Hungary). I was in a middle of a project, they had to cancel it, because there was no-one who could have proceed with it. My teammeates and I were devastated, because we were all friends, but I had to make this move. I was happy to leave this terrible job, but I was also sad that I because of leaving my friends behind.

And the funny thing is that the new job was horrible, 6 months later I quit :) It's even funnier that I returned to the previous company, but to a different department. I'm only an accountant now, but I get more money than as a senior accountant :) I mostly enjoy what I do now, and I have plenty of free time to learn new things (Excel, VBA, etc.) during the day. The best thing is that my bosses (finally!) appreciate my skills and innovative ideas. I'm planning to work here until FIRE :)

Not epic, but here's my story. I was working freelance on a job. I was a manager to a small team, while I myself reported to 3 managers (!), who could not stand eachother and fought over who was responsible for me and my team. They all wanted control over my team. That's why they hired me: so none of them had control over my team.

The team I managed was great: nice, hard working people who had suffered under this management crisis for years. I didn't like the atmosphere and lost quite a bit of sleep, but I kept around so my team could just do their jobs. It paid well, I was working freelance after all. When I started this job my husband and me had just had a few miserable business years, so I could really use the money.

After about 9 months things got nasty. I had to fight off members of other teams who were trying to take over responsibilities from members of my team, obviously staged by their managers who were trying to take control. I told one of the employees (member of another team) how I felt about this kind of behaviour, that I did not like it and that it had to end. This obviously was not appreciated, and a meeting with my 3 managers was called. I was ready to quit at this point. I had slept bad for months, worked my ass off for my team while trying to keep my 3 managers satisfied, when all they did was fight.

One of the managers insisted that I told my side of the story, all ins and outs. So I did, I told them all what had happened, how I had to fight people off to keep my own team working happily, and I told them what their own teammembers had done trying to take over responsibilities from my team. After telling this, I was suddenly being accused of being the toxic factor. Where did I find the nerve to speak so low of their employees. They did not fire me. And I did not quit on the spot. I should have, but I was too flabbergasted about what had just happened. I stayed around for a few more months. I found replacement for my own position, but she quit after two months, while I was still there finishing up a project. On my last day one of the managers begged me to stay. I felt bad for my team leaving them, but I couldn't take it anymore. I did not have another job lined up, but I had saved up most of the money I had earned on this job so I had enough money to last me for months. I found another job soon after this, so I never had to use the money.

A few months back the manager who asked me to stay called me again on my cell. I did not answer. He didn't leave a voicemail message.

I have heard some epic ones from burnt out Wall Streeters that were used and abused. I think my favorite is a tossup between the guy who put a guppy in every radiator on the floor before he left (stinks out loud whenever the heat goes up) and the dude who dropped a "steamer" in his desk drawer, broke the key off in the lock, and marched out, never to be seen again.

I have heard some epic ones from burnt out Wall Streeters that were used and abused. I think my favorite is a tossup between the guy who put a guppy in every radiator on the floor before he left (stinks out loud whenever the heat goes up) and the dude who dropped a "steamer" in his desk drawer, broke the key off in the lock, and marched out, never to be seen again.

Do you happen to have a link to that? That would keep me entertained for hours.

I have heard some epic ones from burnt out Wall Streeters that were used and abused. I think my favorite is a tossup between the guy who put a guppy in every radiator on the floor before he left (stinks out loud whenever the heat goes up) and the dude who dropped a "steamer" in his desk drawer, broke the key off in the lock, and marched out, never to be seen again.

Do you happen to have a link to that? That would keep me entertained for hours.

Sorry, this is all person to person. Got to hear the tales by working in the trenches with the burnt out.

I told myself: why would I work so much if there's no benefit? So I decreased my 8 hour workday to 4-5. I heavily concentrated solely on my targets, and didn't give a crap about anything else. I was always smiling and showed a positive, proactive, friendly attitude (while I was thinking FU all). The outcome: I got a reward of excellence, and next year suddenly my work was "exceptional". My boss almost fell in love with me, and I slowly became indispensable.

Had I coworker who was about to retire and wanted to get a severance package during the next round of layoffs (a few months out) so he did the same thing. Worked the bare minimum, walked out of meeting if anyone started to talk about anything that wasn't his exact job, refused to help anyone else if it wasn't required for his job. But his job was done perfectly - since he had 8 hours a day to do it rather than his previous 3-4 hours (and 4-5 of other's peoples crap).

Ended up not getting laid off, but instead got an award for "ignoring the distractions of the work place" so he went to the ceremony they threw him and gave his notice to the CEO there (after he was handed his bonus check).

My story is having FU money provided a lever that I was able to use to get a 20% raise and overall stronger position at work a few years back.

At that point, I had 13 years of experience and many successful projects under my belt at my company. Although my work was well respected and I'd always received good reviews and slightly above average raises, because I had been there so long and what was happening with the outside market my salary was significantly lower than what the company would have had to pay someone to replace me.

I had pretty frank conversation with my boss about salary. He basically agreed that I should be paid the number I put forth, but he needed to get approval from up the chain. Initially I was optimistic that I would be receiving a raise within a few weeks.

But then nothing happened. My boss, who works in a different city, was kind of avoiding me and when I did see him always had excuses for the delays. He was actually employing the playbook our purchasing department uses when a supplier tries push through a price increase.

After about 2 months of this I had a brief and polite conversation with my boss just before Thanksgiving. I told him I was just looking for a yay or a nay on the raise. He was very deferential and apologized for the delays. I think at that point he first understood I really was going to leave if I didn't get the raise. And while I had been patiently waiting for the decision, there was a limit to my patience.

But in any case nothing changed. A few more weeks passed and I still did not receive an answer. I only got more excuses about decision makers being busy with other things, travel, etc. So around 6pm a few days before Christmas, I gave notice to my boss and explained that in the new year I was not willing to work for less than the number we had first discussed.

My boss was noticeably unsettled and asked me if I had another job lined up. I didn't. I informed him I'd just planned to spend 3 months skiing in Colorado and after that I'd come back home and decide what to do. I was serious. This was my plan. At that point I had a certain amount of freedom because I had about 20x my annual spend saved in a variety of assets.

My boss started giving me some BS about the company missing on some financial targets due to soft sales, etc.. I had suspected this might be coming and had prepped for it in advance -- I volleyed back at him key figures and statements from the annual report that was released a few months earlier (it's a publicly traded company) that painted a rosy picture. Overall earnings and free cash flow were strong and of course were absolutely huge numbers compared to what I was asking for.

At that point my boss and the company sprang into action, finally! By 8am the next morning the raise was authorized effective immediately and I even got a promoted title which I didn't ask for or really care about because I still had the same job responsibilities.

The only reason I was able to pull off this gambit is because of my FU stash. I doubt any of my peers would have been able to do this without having another job lined up. As a group, they generally have affinities for F250's, vacation cottages and oversized surburban houses on large lots.

Depending on what the stock market does and my happiness with my job at the time - I should be giving my final, non-negotiable(!) notice in 2-6 years.